Hingham Select Board Advances $2.5M Senior Center Design, Defers Pickleball Vote

HINGHAM -- March 6, 2025, Hingham Select Board unanimously advances $2.5 million Center for Active Living design funding while deferring a contested pickleball court vote to March 11. Chair Joe Fiser and the three-member board voted unanimously to recommend favorable action on Article Z, which would draw $2.5 million from excess fund balance to fund design, permitting, and owner's project manager costs for the proposed 28,000-square-foot senior center at Bare Cove Park, estimated at roughly $35 million to construct. The board also approved a $469,565 furniture contract with People Places and Spaces LLC for the nearly complete Public Safety Building and authorized a $110,950 engineering amendment for the harbor waterfront resiliency project. On pickleball, Recreation Commission Chair Vicky Donlin and Recreation Director Mark Thell sought $1,277,960 in town funds on top of $758,640 in Community Preservation Committee money for a 12-court complex with 15-foot acoustic barriers, but more than a dozen residents raised noise, cost, and process concerns, prompting Select Board member Liz Klein to call for a deferral. Finance Director Michelle reported a preliminary FY26 budget deficit of $476,000, with health insurance rates just released showing increases of 7 to 15 percent.